


praying for the day

by dysprositos



Category: Infinity Train (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Humiliation, Power Dynamics, if this had happened in episode 3x06 we would be better off
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:54:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28091985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dysprositos/pseuds/dysprositos
Summary: ShelikesSimon, and if she has towrite outthe choreography ofSimon ticks off Grace and has to work his way back to her good sideto make sure eight years of partnership doesn’t end up under train wheels, she will.
Relationships: Simon Laurent & Grace Monroe
Kudos: 8





	praying for the day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [briargroves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/briargroves/gifts).



Simon _interrupts_ her. Simon (upsets Hazel, and) interrupts _her_. Grace shoots Hazel a gentle smile so fake her cheeks hurt, and says “Hazel, hon? Can you give us a minute? I need to have a _little_ talk with Simon,” and drags Simon off a little way before anyone can object.

“What?” says Simon, and from his tone it sounds like he thinks _he_ gets to be annoyed. “You know I’m right.”

“No,” Grace says, drawing herself up, looming, getting in his face a little. “What I _know_ is that you’re out of _line._ ” She jabs his chest for emphasis. He opens his mouth, and he looks _affronted_ , which is how Grace knows she doesn’t want to hear anything he has to say. “No. I talk, you listen.” He closes his mouth and Grace calls it _progress_. She starts pacing.

“I _know_ you’re focused on meeting up with Apex. I get that; I want to see them too. I _know_ you were focused on our goal of getting rid of the Null, any way we could, and I _get_ that you didn’t realize the problem wasn’t just ‘It’s a giant gorilla; we have no army; how can we do that?’ but also ‘Hazel still thinks of it as a person she loves.’” She holds up a hand in Simon’s direction without looking. If she sees that he _was_ about to object, to defend himself, she knows she would—do something she’d regret later. “I get it: I’m the one who handles that side of Apex onboarding, you’re new to that dance. Heck, you’re new to the dance of _Simon ticks off Grace and has to work his way back to her good side_ ; you’re _smart_ and you usually don’t misstep this badly.” The word _smart_ comes out more like an accusation than the affirmation she intended it as; she pauses to recover her equilibrium.

Simon takes it as an invitation to speak. “I didn’t—I didn’t do it on _purpose_ ,” he starts, which is less defensive than she’d feared—but still defensive, and she cuts him off.

“If I thought you screwed up my plan on purpose, you’d be dead,” she says flatly, and he falls silent. “Now is not the time for defenses, and excuses, and mitigating circumstances. I had to pull rank to reprimand you for disobeying orders and undoing almost _all_ of my progress with Hazel—” Simon doesn’t open his mouth but he looks like he _wants_ to respond, which means he’s missing the point—"We’re not rehashing it, I had to _pull rank_ to _reprimand_ you, we’re _that far_ from being on the same page.”

She resumes pacing. Too much nervous energy, it has to go somewhere; too many past confrontations where she couldn’t get through because the other person _wouldn’t listen_. Angela. Carlos. Lisbet. (Her parents.) She _likes_ Simon, and if she has to _write out_ the choreography of _Simon ticks off Grace et cetera_ to make sure eight years of partnership doesn’t end up under train wheels, she will.

“Now is _not_ the time for arguing with me, for offering your judgment that I _don’t trust_ right now, for _correcting_ me and talking _over_ me. _Now_ is the time for watching me carefully, and following my cues, and getting on your knees and _kissing my boots_ because, Simon? You screwing up my plans because of your _issues_ with Hazel?” (She doesn’t specify. If _he_ doesn’t know he’s jealous, _Grace_ isn’t going to tell him.) “It’s getting a little _boring._ ”

She turns and Simon is looking at her and she opens her hand in his direction, permission to speak, to _please_ prove she’s caught his attention.

“I’d hate to be boring,” is what he says, and the tone is like he’s joking but his eyes are wary, and maybe that’d be enough but she’s reminded herself that he _interrupted_ her and _corrected_ her (incorrectly) and she’s going to need more than that.

“Now is the time,” she repeats slowly, “for getting on your knees and kissing my boots,” and Simon flushes bright red.

“Grace—” he says, and backtracks immediately when her eyebrows shoot up—"Ma’am, I didn’t mean—I’m sorry, I—”

Hazel’s voice floats into the clearing. “Guys? Is this a _little_ talk or a _big_ talk?” and it’s jarring, the reminder there’s a world outside the two of them, but Simon also looks relieved, and _that’s_ not correct.

“Simon,” Grace sing-songs, “now is the time for following my cues, and you can do it right now or you can wait for Hazel and do it with an audience...”

Simon looks at her and finally seems to realize she’s not budging from this spot until he’s proven he can take direction.

As always, he moves quickly enough once he’s decided what needs to be done. He kneels and presses one neat kiss to the toe of one boot, and then, _bless_ him for being so literal-minded, one neat kiss to the toe of the other. Flush with power, she playfully lifts the just-kissed one and places it on the back of his neck as he starts to unbend from kissing the other. He stills instantly and she rewards him by not pressing down.

“Now,” she says, feeling whimsical, not really sure what she’s going to say, and it comes out in the talking-to-little-kids voice. Like letting someone out of timeout. “Do we talk over Grace?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Do we _correct_ Grace?”

“Not unless—” He loses an inch of space between his face and the mud for that one. “No, ma’am.”

“If Grace wants Simon’s opinion, she will?”

“Tell it to him, ma’am,” he breathes, and that’s a better answer than she was hoping for, so she takes her boot off, satisfied and kind of bored, and starts to walk toward where she hears Hazel starting to walk towards them.

“You coming, Kneepads?” Grace calls back, and Simon scrambles to his feet.

He shoots Hazel a weak smile and double-thumbs-up when Grace informs them both that Simon thinks a funeral is a _great_ idea, so Grace counts their little conversation as a success.

**Author's Note:**

> Hazel asks why Simon’s kneepads are all muddy. He’s about to explain he dropped something and had to find it, but Grace cuts in and explains that he was praying, and like hell is he about to correct her _now_.
> 
> Hazel scrunches up her face. “For forgiveness?” she says, her tone full of doubt that Simon could or would do such a thing.
> 
> He flushes when Grace looks back at him knowingly. “What would you say, Simon? Were you praying for forgiveness?”
> 
> He crosses his arms and nods without looking at either of them.


End file.
